Box office: Terrifier 3 creates a sensation, Joker 2 confirms its historic fiasco

It's Halloween early in American theaters, where the modestly budgeted horror film Terrify 3 has terrified spectators en masse, and is taking the lead at the American box office in style. For his part, Joker: Folie à Deux confirms its fiasco and signs a historic fall in the second week. We take stock.

Laughing Clown, Crying Joker

Something happened this weekend in American theaters. Against all expectations, a horror film with a micro budget of 2 million has just finished at the top of the box office by collecting 18.3 million dollars. The third opus in the series Terrifypreceded by a reputation as a particularly bloody horror nugget, apparently tickled the curiosity of spectators as it should.

It's a real hit for the production of Bloody Disgustingspecializing in horror films and belonging to the Cineverse media group, and which built the popularity of Terrify and Art the Killer Clown mainly on the Internet, and via its community of 80 million subscribers.

This success is reminiscent of other micro-budget horror films, such as Halloween (1978), The Blair Witch Project (1999) or even Saw (2004). And like the surprise success of Godzilla Minus One last year, Terrify 3 has been able to create a fan base over the years, without having needed to develop a traditional promotional campaign.

One clown laughs, the other cries. Crucified by critics (including ours), and surrounded by dramatic word of mouth, Joker: Folie à Deux already falls to third place with only 7 million dollars, and records an 81.3% drop in its audience in the second week.

A historic decline, the worst for an adaptation of a DC character, but also for a superhero film. For comparison, this “Joker 2” manages to do less well than the ovens The Marvels (-78% in second week), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (-69.9%), Shazam! The Rage of the Gods (-69%) or even The Flash (-72.5%).

The feature film with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga – with an estimated budget of 190 million – has so far only totaled 165 million dollars worldwide, and is undoubtedly the biggest fiasco of 2024. It seems that no one wanted this sequel, especially not the public, and Joker: Folie à Deux could cause Warner Bros. to lose a lot of money.

In the rest of the box office, The Wild Robot remains nicely in second place with $13.4 million added to its prize pool. The animated film from Dreamworks studios shows good retention over the weeks. While a sequel has just been confirmed by the studios, the feature film has established itself as the ultimate family event, and should continue its successful journey throughout the month of October.

Finally, Piece by PiecePharrell Williams' “Lego mode” biopic, fails to convince the crowds and debuts in fifth place with only $3.8 million. Fortunately, its limited budget (16 million) limits the damage and the film can hope to glean interest with the Oscar and awards season which is only just beginning.

US box office October 11-13, 2024 (estimates)